


Takes Two to Tango

by Anonymous



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: (i can't believe that's a tag), Dancing, First Kiss, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, M/M, Partying, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, cross-dressing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-23 18:35:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1575422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"So you're sayin' I look like a dame." Steve says flatly.</p><p>"No no no, not a bit. I'm just sayin' it sure don't make sense for me to dress up like a bird."</p><p>"Why, because people would never believe I could get a good lookin' lady like you?" Steve snarks back. It's hilarious and they both know it; Bucky's jaw is much too cut to even attempt to pass for anything other than a full grown man's. </p><p>"Aw Steve, I know you're the prettier one between the two of us... I could never pass for a looker... I look like any mean old lug from down in the docks," Bucky says. But this time the smile he throws in Steve's direction is genuine, missing the telltale smirk that rides on the corners of his lips so easily.</p><p>Or, the one where Steve dresses like a dame so Bucky can take him dancing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Takes Two to Tango

            "You're hilarious," Steve deadpans. Bucky's great at keeping a straight face, but Steve knows he's seconds from breaking into laughter.

 

            "No, Steve. I'm being serious. " Bucky says, but the small waver in his tone is a dead giveaway.

 

            "I'm not dressing like a gal."

 

            "Why not?" Bucky demands. "C'mon, it's gonna be the party of the year! And I want you to be there. Ya know how long it took me to convince Toro to get us a pair of tickets?! I’ve been buggin' him for weeks."

 

            Steve shakes his head.

 

            "Why don't you take...Sandy. Or Sally. Whichever girl you took out dancin' last week. She was real pretty," Steve mumbles. And of course while Bucky had two-stepped and tango-ed his way around the floor, Steve had been busy standing in the corner of the room. Propping up the wall. Again. 

 

            And it isn’t like he’s bitter about it. He's long gotten over the fact that no girl's wanna go out for a guy who wheezes if he tries to do the foxtrot. Steve’s fine with seeing Bucky happy on the nights they go dancing – Bucky’s always lighter, and happier. Like for a few hours, the both of them can forget that they’re barely pulling in enough to share a pot of stew between them every night. It’s good for Bucky.

 

            The nights would just be better if they didn't require Steve hanging out alone for most of the time. 

 

            "Oh, Sandy's at her grandpa's for the weekend. And plus, I want  _you,_ Steve. To be there. You're my best man! And plus...I heard they're bringing in some moonshine."

 

            "How is that supposed to make me wanna g-"

 

            "Remember Leonard's party last year?" Bucky smirks.

 

            Steve coughs. Leonard's party is something he would rather  _not_ relive again. Not after he'd nearly made an ass of himself...to be fair, he hadn't even known what he was doing until his lips were an inch from Bucky's-

 

            "It'll be like that, but with more gals! Everyone's bringing a plus one, and we'll all be dancin' together. it'll be fun, c'mon," Bucky whines.

 

            Steve tries his hardest to glare. It's difficult when Bucky's eyes are wide and blue and earnest, and he's got a warming smile that would put even the sweetest of puppies to shame.

 

            "Why can't I just go lookin’ like this?" Steve huffs. He really doesn't see the logic of the whole thing. So you gotta bring a plus one to the party, sure, but why does it have to be a gal?

 

            "'cause the rule is, to get in, you gotta have a gal with you. To show the other guys that you're cool, or somethin'. But I don't have a gal to bring, and no one'll notice if we just dress you up, and then we can both be there and have a great time," Bucky nods sagely, as if all of it is common sense. 

 

            "So you're sayin' I look like a dame." Steve says flatly.

 

            "No no no, not a bit. I'm just sayin' it sure don't make sense for  _me_ to dress up like a bird."

 

            "Why, because people would never believe I could get a good lookin' lady like you?" Steve snarks back. It's hilarious and they both know it; Bucky's jaw is much too cut to even attempt to pass for anything other than a man's.

 

            And even if that didn't give it away, his shoulders would. He's really grown out in the past year, and especially now that it's summer and he's been taking odd jobs around the neighborhood, he's gotten a lot of muscle to fill them out. He couldn't pass for a gal if he tried. 

 

            "Aw Steve, I know you're the prettier one between the two of us... I could never pass for a looker... I look like any mean old lug from down in the docks," Bucky says. But this time the smile he throws in Steve's direction is genuine, missing the telltale smirk that rides on the corners of his lips so easily.

 

            Steve considers it. For about a second. 

 

            "No." Steve throws in a cough or two for good measure. "Sorry, Buck. You know I've been feelin' sick all week. Think I'm gettin' a cold. I'm just gonna stay in tonight."

 

            Bucky catches his arm before he can turn away.

 

            "Hey, hey, hey," Bucky sighs. "It's alright...we'll just stay here then, yeah?" Bucky says, already shrugging his jacket off. 

 

            "What? No, you go on ahead. I'm sure Toro'll let you in, or you can find yourself a nice girl. Not like not having a partner at the beginning of the night’s ever stopped you from findin' one, Bucky," Steve smiles wanly. It's certainly true. He can't remember the last time they went out, when a dame _didn't_ notice Bucky. Probably before he hit his growth spurt.

 

            "Nah...not fun without ya," Bucky says, hanging up his coat, but not before digging around in the worn pockets for a bit. He pulls out a thin deck of cards, a hand-me-down from one of the boys who works down at the docks with him. "Split a deck?" he says, smiling.

 

            And no matter that his crooked smile's enough to melt hearts, Steve knows him better than that; he sees right through all of it and knows that Bucky's disappointed they didn't get to go out dancing tonight.

 

            Steve sighs. He's never been able to let Bucky down. 

 

            "Let's go to the party."

\---

            It’s so late by the time they get to the party that no one even checks them at the door, which just makes Steve feel even more ridiculous. He’s dressed in a woman’s long dress, a single piece dress that had been a hassle to wrangle over himself, even with Bucky’s help. And then it had been too long on the bottom, so Bucky had gotten down on his knees so he could reach under the folds of the skirt to hem it up and Steve had felt hot all over, although whether that was from embarrassment or …something else, he wasn't sure.

 

            Bucky’s mama sure had taught him well when it came to hemming. And it had come in handy too; Bucky and Steve hadn’t been able to buy much during the winter, so they’d just ripped the stitches on a few shirts they didn't wear anymore and sewn them into a blanket.

 

            Bucky takes Steve’s hand and leads him over to a table in the back, where there’s a discreet bowl filled with red juice and a ladle, and some cups on the side.

 

            Steve eyes it dubiously.

 

            “Bucky, I don’t know if that’s such a good ide-“

 

            “Shh…don’t worry about it…darling,” Bucky shushes quickly, hand coming up to cover Steve’s mouth; Steve, for being so slight, has a voice that’s almost as deep as Bucky’s. They manage to only earn half of a weird stare from another guy getting juice.

 

            Bucky fills a cup and takes a sip from it, smacking his lips together when he’s done, top lip stained a distractingly bright cherry red.

 

            “You gotta try some of this Stev...ani. Steevani,” Bucky amends, giggling a little. Steve steers them away from the drink table before they can earn any more suspicious glances in their direction.

 

            “Steevani?” Steve growls but he’s laughing too. He takes a sip out of Bucky’s drink, and damn it really _is_ good.

 

            “Hey let’s dance,” Bucky says at some point, to which Steve adamantly shakes his head. Coming dressed as a girl is one thing, no one’s seemed to notice so far. But dancing’ll definitely turn heads.

 

            “They’ll see I’m not-“

 

            “Nah, they won’t! C’mon, don’t do this to me, Stevie. No one but us’ll know. And…and it takes two to tango,” Bucky whispers, turning the full force of his wide and innocent gaze onto Steve.

 

            It’s another one of Bucky’s infamous Bad Ideas, Steve can feel it, but then again, he’s never had any sort of self control when it comes to Bucky.

 

            By the time some of the guests are starting to trickle out, Steve and Bucky have drank their way through three cups of the cherry moonshine punch, and Steve belatedly realizes that there are less couples dancing and he’s out in the open and him and Bucky are holding hands and pressed close and he’s _dancing with Bucky._  

 

            He breaks away with a look of horror on his face.

 

            “Bucky,” he hisses. Bucky, confused by the sudden loss, just looks at him with his big eyes and says, “What? What’sshappened?”

 

            “We…you…I-“ Steve takes his hand and pulls him outside before anyone can see them.

 

            “Someone’ll see us, we’ve gotta go.” Steve says. Bucky’s hand feels sweaty in his, but Steve’s more distracted by the trickle of sweat that rolls down the side of Bucky’s strong jaw.

 

            “Whaddya mean? We’re fine, stop being paranoid Steve,” Bucky laughs. Steve stops him and pushes them both down until they’re sitting in the grass, far enough away from the slowly leaving partygoers where no one can see them.

 

            “Why don’t we sit out here for a few minutes, and then we’ll see, okay?” Steve murmurs, because his head’s starting to pound. Just how much of that stuff did they have?

 

            A few minutes pass. Steve shivers a little; one half of him is freezing, the other half closer that’s closer Bucky still a little warm. Bucky’s always radiated heat.

 

            “You’re right, Steve. We should probably go,” Bucky whispers after a little while, looking a little nervous. Steve nods firmly.

 

            Both of them try to stand at the same time and topple onto their asses back into the grass.

 

            Steve breaks out in laughs at the look of confusion on Bucky’s face, like the ground has personally offended him. When he tries to stand again his legs wobble a little.

 

            “Don’ laugh at me,” Bucky huffs, but he’s laughing at Steve too, who’s struggling just as hard to get his feet under him.

 

            By some miracle, they eventually help each other up and both stumble and trip over each other’s feet on the way back to the apartment.

 

            They both fall through the door and onto the hardwood floor of the tiny apartment in giggles, feet and arms hopelessly tangled together on the ground.

 

            “God, it’s burning in here,” Bucky groans, hands clumsily pulling at his jacket. For once, their small apartment feels too warm and too bright after the dark chill of the night. Steve blearily gets up off the floor so he can turn off the lights and open a few windows, staggering back over to where Bucky’s managed to pull himself into a sitting position against the wall.

 

            “Don’t take…the Lord’s name’in vain,” Steve slurs slowly, trying to sound as indignant as possible. Bucky snickers.

 

            “C’mere,” he pulls Steve down, gently, until they’re sitting side by side against the wall, half of Bucky’s shirt off and the lady’s dress falling off Steve’s shoulders.

 

            “Didya have fun, at least?” Bucky asks after a little while. Steve opens his eyes – he hadn’t even realized he’d dozed off, head pillowed against Bucky’s shoulder.

 

            And he had, had fun. This time. It was different somehow. Maybe because he hadn’t had to stand in a corner of the room the entire night, watching as Bucky danced the night away with some pretty young dame. Maybe it’d been the way that Bucky had looked at him while they’d danced, like Steve was the only thing that mattered in the whole entire universe. Steve half wonders if Bucky looks at all the girls like that, because he’d get it, then, why they were always falling so hard for Bucky.

 

            “I did,” Steve says, smiling.

 

            Bucky slumps a little in relief. “Didya _really_ though? Non’a that crap stuff, I know you don’t always have fun at th’ dances,” Bucky says, nudging Steve a little with his elbow. He turns his face and then he’s staring straight into Steve’s eyes.

 

            It feels good, pressed up against each other like this, half of himself smushed against Bucky’s side and feeling the warmth radiating from where they’re leaning on each other. With Bucky giggling like a maniac, and the both of them drunk on something more than fruit punch, Steve feels like he could take on the world.

 

            “Yeah,” Steve says. He sways a little to the side and Bucky sticks out his hands to steady him, and somehow they both end up on the floor again, laughing, faces close and noses brushing against each other’s in the dark.

 

            He doesn’t know which of them moves first. But somehow Bucky’s cherry-flavored-moonshine lips are softly pressed against his own and it’s hot and slick and both everything and nothing like Steve imagined his first kiss would be. It’s _wonderful_ and for a terrifying moment he thinks he’s dreaming, that this is like the countless other times he’s woken up aching for the feeling of Bucky’s lips against his -

 

-but then Bucky’s big warm hand comes up to cup his cheek and Steve reflexively moves to tangle a hand in his dark hair.

 

            And this, this is how it was always supposed to go.

 

                       

 

**Author's Note:**

> Click [here](http://whoisbuckybarnes.tumblr.com/takes%20two%20to%20tango) for more notes.


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